Larry Mahnken and SG's

Replacement Level Yankees Weblog

"Hey, it's free!"


The Replacement Level Yankees Weblog has moved!  Our new home is:
http://www.replacementlevel.com

Featuring:
Larry Mahnken
SG
sjohnny
TVerik
Sean McNally
Fabian McNally
John Brattain


This is an awesome FREE site, where you can win money and gift certificates with no skill involved! If you're bored, I HIGHLY recommend checking it out!



Web
yankeefan.blogspot.com

Disclaimer: If you think this is the official website of the New York Yankees, you're an idiot. Go away.


December 6, 2005


Zzzzz
by SG

So far, the winter meetings have been rife with rumors and low on activity, with the major news being that the Blue Jays have signed A.J. Burnett for 5 years and $55 million and Latroy Hawkins being traded to the Orioles for Steve Kline.

One interesting rumor that I heard about was that the Detroit Tigers offered Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya to the Arizona Diamondbacks for our old friend, Javier Vazquez. Granderson's a young CF with good power/speed potential, and Zumaya is a minor league pitcher who has already reached AAA at age 20 and accredited himself fairly well there in 8 starts, putting up 56 Ks in 44 innings with a 2.66 ERA. Vazquez used his no-trade clause to turn this trade down, which opens up an interesting possiblity for the Yankees. Carl Pavano for the same package?

Pavano's probably not as highly regarded as Vazquez, stuff-wise, but their overall results are reasonably close (career ERA+ of 105 for Vazquez, 100 for Pavano),they are close in age (Vazquez will be 29, Pavano 30), and they are both signed for about $10 million/year.

The Yankees might have to sweeten the pot to make this trade, but they should at least investigate it.

I'm also hearing the Yankees do have genuine interest in Nomar Garciaparra as a utility player. He's never played the OF so I don't know how feasible he would be in that role, but the Yankees need a bat, he should be reasonably cheap, and he can probably back up all 4 infield positions at the very least and DH. If he's willing to sign for $5 million or so for a year, I'd give him a shot.

Wake me up when something actually happens.